South Africa’s prisons are bursting at the seams, mainly because many people wait too long for their trials and alternatives to jail aren’t used enough. Laws like Section 49G and 62F were made to protect detainees from long waits and offer supervised bail, but slow courts and scarce resources make these rules hard to follow. Inside overcrowded cells, people lose hope as they wait months or years just for a chance to be heard. Some small community efforts bring help and light, but real change needs more than laws—it needs the justice system and society to care deeply and act quickly.
